I woke up early this morning and finished my must-do daily work before 7:30am and then decided, “Enough!” I was determined that this Sunday would be more than blog work, poop scooping and laundry. I wanted to go for a walk at the Australia Zoo. John worked all night and didn’t go to bed until 6am so I planned to go by myself.

I did a load of laundry, piddled around and then went to take a shower. As I was getting dressed, John rolled over in bed and said, “Are you going out?”

“Yes, I’m going to go to the zoo and take my camera,” I said.

“WITHOUT ME???”

Guardians of the Gate

“Oh, I thought you were going to sleep but I’d love you to come with me.” Who can relate to going somewhere with someone when they’re tired or worse, cranky? He’s nearly always in a good mood so I have no complaints, but… First he needed breakfast and then he had to find his shoes and then he needed to put his car in the garage and then he couldn’t find the keys and then he wanted to know where my hat was. We were finally on our way and only needed to stop for sunscreen.

Want a camel ride?

The Australia Zoo, the one created by Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter (Crikey!) is only 20 minutes from our house in the hinterland of the Sunshine Coast. The house he built t store his big exploration boat is at the end of our neighborhood and it’s where Russell Crowe stays when he’s in town. The zoo is a great place to bring a camera and go for a long walk. We have yearly passes because it only costs $24 more than a one-day ticket for locals.

Red Pandas

Every time we go we start off in a different section but we always end up at the kangaroo enclosure and then we visit the koalas. Today we started off where the tigers live. Everything is beautifully decorated from the statues to the plant material.

Steve Irwin wanted the different parts of the zoo to look like the part of the world where the animals come from, including the plants.

Bamboo that creaks and clacks.

I will admit we were both disappointed with the tigers. There was only one so it wasn’t tigers plural, way in the back and not much else to look at. We couldn’t take a photo because the windows were so scratched.

Big Roots!

We did like the statues that the art department at the zoo created mostly from chicken wire and concrete.

Spooky Bas Relief

We didn’t take the shuttle but walked to the wetlands where we saw some beautiful birds, then the road dead-ended at the kangaroos.

Brolgas (also called Australian Cranes)

There are two kangaroo sections – one is for the red kangaroos which are all ladies because the boys can be up to 7 feet tall and can hop over the fence. The guide once told us that the boys come to visit on their birthdays. Guess what men want on their birthday? All species are the same. Cute. The other section is for the gray kangaroos where they also have vending machines for food pellets.

Hey, be quiet, can’t you see I’m sleepin’ over here?

The kangaroos are very tame and will let visitors pet and feed them. They like patty feedies. We even saw a wallaby on top of the roof and the poor little fella couldn’t get down.

These bad boys pack some big teeth!

By this time I’d been walking for an hour and a half and I was ready to come back home and have lunch but not before a quick stroll by the crocodiles and then a quick visit with the koalas. Often, all you’ll see is a koala sleeping in the crotch of a tree but today they were all very active. Hey, let’s all sit on daddy’s head!

They’re going to sit on daddy’s head, just wait.

Do you like zoos? I like this one because there aren’t any cages and everything is as clean as a whistle.

Get offa my head!

When I tell John that I think koalas are really cute he always says the same thing, “Really? they stink and they pee and poop on your head. No thanks.” Seriously, how could anyone resist this face?

You like this pose, Lady?

Now just so this fits in with the food theme. This was dinner last night. Pork chops sous vide with an apple and onion cider sauce.